Making quarter-finals ‘important’ for St Michael’s - McLaughlin

St Michael’s are well poised to make it into the quarter-finals of the Donegal SFC - and Raymond McLaughlin says the knockout phase would provide the perfect grounding for the new-look Bridgemen.

McLaughlin and Cathal Sweeney are at the helm this year and St Michael’s, who were beaten semi-finalists last year, go to St Naul’s on Sunday knowing a win will guarantee a last eight spot.

Christy Toye and Colm McFadden have quietly passed on their respective batons and McLaughlin wants some others to find their voices.

“It’s all about learning now and driving forward,” McLaughlin told Donegal Live in the wake of Sunday’s 3-8 to 0-9 defeat by Naomh Conaill.

“We don’t have Colm and Christy this year and we have a lot of young lads there.

Martin Regan content with Naomh Conaill’s handling of the heat

Naomh Conaill manager Martin Regan admitted he felt 'pressure' beforehand, but his side used their large reservoir of SFC nous to overcome St Michael's on Sunday,

“This is great experience for them to play against a top side like Naomh Conaill. Having Daniel (McLaughlin) and Antoin (McFadden) back in there is a great help. They help those young lads along. We have good guys in the dressing room.”

It is eleven years now since St Michael’s contested their first - to date, only - Donegal SFC final. Beaten then by Glenswilly, St Michael’s haven’t managed to get back to the showpiece again.

McLaughlin was disappointed with the manner of Sunday’s home defeat.

First-half goals by Charles McGuinness and Brendan McDyer laid the platform before McGuinness batted in a third in the second half.

McLaughlin said: “We were very competitive throughout, but the goals before half-time were sucker punches. They took the sting out of us.

“We had a lot of possession and a lot of attacks in the early period of the game, but they punished us and started to get a bit of control on it.

“Naomh Conaill are a first-class side. Any time they turned us over, they punished us. We weren’t clinical enough at the other end. I don’t think that it was an eight-point margin, but they’re a top side and showed their quality.

The second goal was the big score for them.  We told the boys to just stick with it at half-time. We were causing them problems. We got the first two scores of the second half, but they got a goal just after we had a man black carded. That finished us.

“We’ll look forward to next week. There is an opportunity there for us to make a quarter-final - and that’s important for us.”